


Certain Slaughter

by Toaverse



Category: Onward (2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Gen, Heaven, Heavy Angst, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Organs, Physical Abuse, Physical Torture, Tears, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:47:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23738590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaverse/pseuds/Toaverse
Summary: The Forest of Certain Slaughter is one of the most dangerous locations on the map of Yore.No wizard in the history of magic who entered came out of that forest alive.The Lightfoot brothers where no exception...
Comments: 23
Kudos: 16





	1. Pain, blood, and guts

**Author's Note:**

> Read the tags on this one, guys. Now, read them again.
> 
> So, Remember when I said that the angst gets worse? :/
> 
> Well...this is my response.😐
> 
> Enjoy...

The forest of certain slaughter, one of the most dangerous places to have ever be known on any map.

Hydras and cerberus’ where the most common creatures to live there, hunting down any creature of flesh and blood that they could eat as a meal. But there where also torturers out there, who where waiting for their next victim to slowly kill in cold blood.

No wizard in the history of magic came out of that forest alive, always being found dead while covered in their own blood or dismembered into peaces.

So there the Lightfoot brothers stood at the edge of entering the forest, both not sure if they should be doing this or not.

“Barley, are you really sure this is a good idea?” Ian asks as if it’s the most scariest thing ever, which isn’t really far from the truth.

“Look, I would rather go home too, but your staff has been shaking like crazy and we both just want it to stop,” Barley answers honest.

Ian’s new staff has been shaking for the past weeks, and it drove the teen elf nuts to the point he didn’t got much sleep. Even Barley doesn’t know what was going on. So the only solution? A quest!

But not a fun one...

They had been driving for hours, trying to find something, anything to make the staff stop shaking. It was when they drove near the forest of curtain slaughter that the staff started to calm down a bit.

And so that’s why they’re here.

“I’m assuming we don’t split up...” Ian says in a nervous tone.

“Of cours we don’t!” Barley exclaims. “If we go down, then we go down together!”

The younger brother’s mind relaxes a bit after that reassurement. “Okey...we are gonna get out of this alive...”

The young mage took the first step into the dark forest, holding his staff close despite the shaking. Barley soon follows.

With every step the brothers took, the darker the atmosphere becomes around them, but not to the point where they couldn’t see anything anymore. The most the Lightfoots can see are trees around them.

While Ian focuses on his staff and where it wants to go, Barley is walking a few steps behind on the lookout for any creatures potentially trying to hurt them.

“Are you two lost?” The brothers hear a voice ask at their right side in their direction.

The voice belonged to a grey skinned male elf with short black uncombed hair, who looks like he’s in his mid-twenties.

“Uhm...kinda?” Barley admits. “We’re trying to find something. A magic source of some kind. Right, Ian?”

“A magic source, huh?” The grey elf asks. “I don’t really know what exactly you’re looking for, but maybe a map will help. I do have one laying at home, follow me.” He said as he walks a bit ahead.

“W-we aren’t going with him...right?” Ian asks his brother, quite terrified of what might happen in this place of darkness.

“If he says he has a map to the source, then we probably should.” Barley answers honest. “My gut agrees with it.” 

The sentence made Ian a bit calmer. Well, if Barley’s gut says it is safe, then it is.

“Besides, if he tries anything, you have your staff to defend us.” The older brother says in an attempt to reassure Ian, which worked.

“Okey... we’re going.” The 16 year old says. He looks at the direction the grey elf is standing, before walking towards his direction to go get the map. Barley soon did the same.

•+•

It probably took a few minutes walking through the darkness to finally arrive at the grey elf’s home. Both brothers don’t really know how to describe it, but there appear to be 4 other grey elves. One other male who’s about Barley’s size. And three females, one with a head full of wild hair, one with hair that’s obviously greasy, and one with curly hair, who are all as thin to the point that Barley thought they have anorexia if some kind. 

They all have bloodthirsty looks on their faces, like they’ve been waiting years for this.

And the Lightfoots quickly figured it out...

“L-look, it was fun meeting you all, b-but we really gotta go ba-“ Ian couldn’t finish his sentence when in a quick movement, the grey elf behind him grabs him by his hair and slams his head against a rock, breaking Ian’s nose instantly. It all went too fast for the 16 year old to proces, only feeling pain in his nose and blood dripping out.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Barley shouts, furious at the grey elf for what he just did.

But just like his younger brother, Barley is caught off guard.

He suddenly feels something long and sharp stab all the way through his right hand, feeling himself being pinned against a rock-ish wall. Not having realized what’s happening, Barley felt the same thing happening to his left hand. It was then that he screamed out of pain.

When Barley got a bit used to the pain in both his hands, his mind caught up to what’s happening to him. He’s being held back against a hard and cold surface. Both his hands being stabbed entirely through, having one stick in each hand. The sticks are being held firmly by two grey female elves, not letting him escape their grasp. Consider that those two are just as skinny and thin as Ian, Barley could’ve easily fend them off.

But the thing that catches Barley’s full attention is his little brother. Ian’s still recovering from his recently broken nose when the older Lightfoot saw the elf that they had followed come near him, ready to make the young wizard suffer through pain.

It was crystal clear that they want Ian dead first.

“No! Please don’t hurt him!” Barley pleads for them to let his little brother go, kicking his legs in an desperate attempt to get out of the painful grasp he’s in.

He is instead met with multipel quick and rough stabs in both his legs, with what felt more like a knife. It was no doubt one of the elves that held him back, clearly having enough of his struggling. Barley winced as he felt the stabbing pain yet again, but that doesn’t stop him from keeping an eye on his little brother.

Then everything went by fast.

Hearing Barley’s plead, Ian turns his attention to the elf who broke his nose. Ian immediately sees the elf trying to knock him unconscious with a swift move, using a rock. The 16 year old’s brain shut down of all thinking, the only thing being on his mind is to get out of here.

“Voltar Thundasir!” Ian shouts out of reflex, holding his staff tightly. To his surprise, the spell works, as arcane lightning comes out of his staff.

What he didn’t expect was the lightning going through the grey elf’s chest.

What Ian saw next was his attacker fall backwards, the life draining out of him. A big hole in his chest, where a bucket of his blood spat out, as well as one of his organs.

The grey elf’s body hit the ground, all dead and bloody.

‘I killed him...’ ran through Ian’s mind, frozen in fear of what he had just done. ‘I killed him...’

“Oros!” The larger grey elf calls out, who obviously saw everything. He, along with the female with the greasy hair, ran over to the brutalized body.

The two females that hold Barley back are by no doubt shocked by what had just played before them, as Barley can feel their grip on the sticks tighten. Yes, they have witnessed and done far more gruesome things to others, they aren’t even afraid to admit it, but seeing one of their siblings being killed like that by a kid just enraged them.

‘Come on, Ian. Get out of here...’ Barley pleads in his head after having seen the scene that had played. He knows that things aren’t gonna get any better, but the 19 year old wants his little brother to at least make an attempt to escape. ‘Run...’

“Finish that kid, Ceren!” The female elf who holds Barley at his left side yells in anger. “Finish him!”

Ceren, who is no doubt the large one, appears to snap out of his short grieve as he shot his head up at Ian, his expression screaming rage and anger. The greasy haired female also looks at the 16 year old the same way, but her expression has a bit of sadness.

The two got up from their kneeling positions, and slowly walk their way towards Ian, trying to intimidate the boy.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-“ but Ian was quickly tripped on the ground by a swift foot move from Ceren, as if the kid was nothing. As Ian hit the ground, he lost the grip on his staff.

He attempted to grab his staff back, but the greasy haired female caught up and picked the thing up before he could. She took a look at the staff, before walking back to the dead body that lays on the ground, giving Ian a angry look as she did.

“P-please... I’m sorry...” Ian pleads, but Ceren was having none of it.

The larger elf grabs Ian by the neck to prevent him from moving further away, but doesn’t squeeze hard enough to choke him. He then slams his fist in the younger elf’s face, knocking most of his teeth out as a result. The taste of his own blood fills Ian’s mouth as he felt the pain.

It was then that Barley couldn’t look anymore, and closed his eyes to try and block it out. He couldn’t look at this. He couldn’t look at his baby brother being hurt. He couldn’t even listen to it anymore.

“You haven’t seen the big moment yet...” the female who held him back on the right whispers in his ear, which instantly snaps his eyes open again.

And she’s right...

Ceren goes on by slowly gouging Ian’s eyes out with his thumbs. 

The teenage elf screams like he never has before, not caring about his vocal chores anymore. Ian saw nothing, absolutely nothing, but he feels the agonizing pain and pressure in his head as the larger elf’s thumbs dig deeper and deeper into his eye sockets. He can’t think of anything anymore, not even about wanting to go home, not even of his older brother who is forced watching all of this. There is only pain, pain, and more pain...

Barley could’ve sworn he heard Ian attempt to scream; “HELP ME!”.

Ceren looks up at Barley with a evil grin on his face, taunting him without words. He then gave one strong thrust with his thumps, before the quick crack of a crushing skull follows, spreading blood and guts throughout the area.

All Barley’s senses, except his sight, shut down as his eyes widened in horror at the result after that horrible sound. He saw his baby brother, dead on the ground, his blood and guts all over the place...

But the worst sight was looking at the remains of Ian’s head...

It makes Barley sick...

‘No...’ kept screaming in the remaining Lightfoot’s mind, as he stares at his younger brother’s shattered skull. ‘NO!’

He wants to scream, to cry, to make that monster of an elf pay for what he just did, but he couldn’t. The reality is that he’s being hold back in quite a painful way, and that he can’t get out.

He didn’t even realize that thick tears where streaming down his cheeks...

Hearing returns to his brain, as Barley hears cheering and laughing from next to him.

“There we go! Our dear brother still has it in him!”

“You did him justice, Ceren!”

Those words, and the way they spoke them, made Barley sick to his stomach...

One of the females that held him back notices that the sight broke the guy, so she decides to rub it in a little.

“I think we deserve a little break. Don’t we, Lelora?” The one on Barley’s right asks the one on the other side. She, however, doesn’t wait for an answer as she walks away, following Ceren who has Oros’ body over his shoulder.

Barley secretly hoped that she will just leave without checking if the sticks can hold him on their own. Unfortunately for him, Lelora is not a idiot, as she pushes the sticks deeper in the surface to make sure the living Lightfoot didn’t escape.

After that, she leaves, following her siblings.

Now it was just Barley, with his brother’s crushed skull to look at...

•+•

The 19 year old didn’t know how long it took, but the sight before him, as well as the realization that Ian has been murdered brutally, hit him at some point.

He looked at his little brother’s corps for most of the time, but sometimes having to look away when Barley couldn’t take the sight anymore.

But when he did look, a million thoughts and things crashed in his mind.

The living Lightfoot wanted nothing more then to hold his baby brother’s body close to him, and to tell him that he’s in a saver place now, but he couldn’t. Barley couldn’t do anything, in fact.

That’s it. The thought that he couldn’t do anything to save Ian, has the 19 year old choked up.

It made Barley remember the day his little brother was born, and when he held him for the first time. That day, Barley promised Ian that he’ll protect him from anything and everything that’s evil or bad. But now he had failed to do that...

Thinking about that memory finally pushes Barley to his breaking point.

“I’m sorry...” he sobs, thick tears of devastation streaming down his face. “I’m so...sorry! I-I should have known better... I should have known this wasn’t a good idea! B-but even my gut didn’t...listen...” Sobs and tears of guilt follow. “I’m... so...sorry...”

God, did he hate himself right now. God, did he hate himself for feeling such a screw-up...

“Guess our break is over!” Barley hears a female voice call out, as if she has been waiting for what she has planned for ages. And looking from where her voice came from, she isn’t alone.

‘Not those two again...’ the 19 year old thought, as he sees the two grey elves that held him in this position.

Both ripped out the sticks out of the surface and out of their captive’s hands without any mercy, forcing Barley to get used to the pain again. he fall flat on his stomach on the ground. Barley hadn’t even realized that his legs had already given out. 

They flipped him over so that their next victim is laying on his back.

“Time to have some fun!” One of the two says cheerfully, as if it’s her birthday. Barley sees through his watered eyes that both of them at least have something sharp in their hands, which can’t mean anything good.

Dread of what they’re gonna do to him strikes his gut, and just like that, so does the sharp blade.

Barley screams in agony as his belly is cut open by one of the grey female elves. It felt like his torso is burning in flames. He can even feel his own blood pouring out of him.

But then there came another long cut in his stomach, and then another, and another...

Barley felt more and more pain and blood by each cut, screaming louder by the next cut, and breathing became harder and harder. God, he doesn’t wanna look at himself to see how bad the damage is, but it must be pretty bloody...

“Look! I can see his organs!” One of the duo called out, her tone sounding like she’s proud of it.

Barley couldn’t help but gag at that comment.

“What did I just hear...?” the same elf who made that comment asks in an intimidating tone, dread immediately sinking back in her victim’s open gut.

Out of viciousness and lust of violence, she grabs the 19 year old’s hair with one hand, yanking his head up, and violently stabs her knife in his left eye.

The move, as well as his sight, hit Barley like a truck, but he’s too taken by surprise to scream at that moment. It was when the knife was violently ripped out, eyeball taken with it, that the extreme pain kicked in, and he screams hoarsely.

His head fell back on the ground, sight being all blurry by the recent attack, hearing his ripped out eyeball being dropped on the ground next to him.

But unfortunately for Barley, the duo isn’t done yet.

Out of nowhere, the other one straight up ripped his kidney out of his belly...

Then his gallbladder...

Then his pancreas...

Then his intestines...

Barley’s blurry vision became brighter by each organ being ripped out, feeling light headed, and feeling less and less pain.

With difficulty, he looks over at Ian’s corps that still lays on the ground next to him.

It was the last thing Barley saw, before feeling himself drift away from the living world, and drifting away from this horrifying nightmare, finally escaping this slaughter...


	2. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wilden expects to meet his sons someday in heaven.
> 
> But not this soon...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hugs, tears, and more tears T-T
> 
> Enjoy!

The first thing Ian sees when opening his eyes is a bright white that could nearly turn someone blind, but his eyes quickly got used to the brightness. With the bright white where soft, light colors that will calm someone down instantly.

The sight was beautiful.

He feels that he’s laying on something soft, something that feels identical like a cloud.

It lays so comfortable, Ian almost doesn’t want to get up.

He slowly sat up from his laying position, and analyzes the place with his eyes. He sees no one, absolutely no one, but the realm he’s in looks peaceful.

Ian then feels that someone is coming towards him. He sensed it from his left. The young wizard looks at his left side, and saw the man he always wanted to meet.

His dad.

He stood there, with a warm smile on his face, looking exactly the same as in the photos at home.

“D-dad?” Ian asks in disbelief, as if the man in front of him is an illusion.

“Hey, Ian.”

His voice even sounds the same as in the tape. Ian almost couldn’t believe it.

The boy smiled, as tears of happiness burned at his eyes. As overwhelming feelings of happiness came crashing down on him, Ian didn’t hesitate for a second before pulling his dad into a tight hug, which Wilden accepts by hugging his second son back.

Ian doesn’t care if it’s a dream, or anything that isn’t real. He finally gets to meet his father, something he had always wanted in his 16 years of life.

“Y-you’re here...” Ian manage to say between sobs, his father nodding in response. “This isn’t real...right?” The younger wizard couldn’t help but ask.

The question made Wilden a bit concerned. He pulled back from the hug, his hands resting on his son’s shoulders, forcing Ian to look at his dad’s concerned expression.

“No, this is real...” Wilden confesses with a sad tone in his voice. He saw the excitement expression on his youngest’s face, which doesn’t make the next part any easier. “Ian...you just died...”

Ian felt his heart drop, his expression quickly changing from excitement, to shock and disbelief. ‘I’m dead?’ Repeated in his mind over and over again. ‘No! I can’t be dead! Barley is still there! I can’t leave him and mom all alone! This is just a horrible dream!’ Ian tries to pinch himself to prove his last thought, but no matter how hard he pinches his arm, it isn’t working.

And Wilden notices it, he notices how his son is desperately trying to believe that this is just a dream, and that he’ll just wake up to wherever he was.

“Ian.” Wilden tries getting his son’s attention again, gripping his shoulders a bit tighter. It worked, as Ian looks at his father, his expression screaming dread. Wilden took a deep breath before he continued. “What happened?”

The question made Ian think about what could have possibly happend to him that caused him to die. He remembers accidentally killing a elf with arcane lightning and the amount of blood pouring out of him... he remembers the murderous the larger grey elf gave him... he remembers his teeth being smashed out... he remembers the agonizing pain and pressure in his head, brain, and eyes while basically screaming his lungs out, as the large elf gouged his eyes...

Ian remembers seeing nothing while feeling the unbearable pain, then feeling a split second of the worst pain he felt in his life, before he woke up here...

But he doesn’t remember what had happend to him to...die...

“I-I don’t know...” Ian admits, feeling tears of confusion and fear in his eyes. “I-I really don’t know...”

Seeing that his youngest son overwhelmed and about to cry, Wilden pulls him into a comforting hug again, which Ian accepts by burying his face in the man’s frame. Noticing that Ian’s legs are about to give out, Wilden carefully lowers them both to the soft surface of the cloud they’re standing on.

In that moment, Ian fully allows himself to cry his heart out over everything that had happend in those minutes in the living world without words being told.

•+•

It took around 10 minutes for Ian to calm down a bit. He however refused to tell the things he remembered happening in the forest of certain slaughter, first wanting to share his entire life with his dad.

Ian was just in the middle of telling the story of how they got Blazey when Wilden sees someone new arriving in the realm of the dead. The figure looks familiar, but Wilden couldn’t quite tell who.

“I’ll be right back, Ian.” He says to his son, patting him on the shoulder before going to check who just joined the realm of the dead.

As Wilden walked closer and closer to the figure, it became clearer who it is that joined death.

It is Barley...

‘No...not him too...’ Wilden thought as he looks at his oldest son sleeping comfortably on the cloud. 

It suddenly clicks in Wilden’s head that his sons where on another quest of some kind. Why else would they both die within an hour?

“Hey, Barley.” The father of two calls out softly, trying to wake his oldest up. “Wake up.”

Barley slowly opens his eyes, and is met with the comforting face of his dad. It took a few blinks and seconds to fully realize who he is looking at.

“Dad?” Barley asks tiredly, still having to wake up properly.

“Yes, it’s me.” Wilden answers his son’s question.

When Barley was fully awake, Wilden helps him get up from the soft surface. And just like his younger brother, Barley waists no time to pull his dad into a hug, which his dad accepts by hugging him back.

But while in the hug, a thought creeps in Barley’s mind. ‘Ian’s here too. Ian’s here too. Ian’s here too.’ Kept repeating in his head. ‘Ian’s here too. Ian’s here too. Ian’s here-‘

It made Barley remember how his younger brother screamed out of agony as his eyes where being gouged out, and that horrible ‘crack’ that followed soon after that spread his blood and guts everywhere, and how his baby brother’s head looked after that...

Wilden feels his son tense up, and pulls back from the hug, feeling completely convinced that something had happend to his boys. The first thing he sees is a teared up Barley, but not out of happiness. Yup, now Wilden is fully convinced.

“W-where is Ian?” Barley could barely ask as the lump in his throat grew.

Wilden waists no time, and steps aside to show his oldest that Ian’s right here with him. “Your brother is right here.”

The Lightfoot brothers look at each other as if they haven’t seen them in years, both of them instantly feeling overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions.

‘They killed Barley too?’ Ian asks in his head as he saw his older brother again. The 16 year old had truly hoped that Barley had manage to escaped the claws of those torturers, but he didn’t... 

The youngest Lightfoot felt his legs move on their own as he ran to his older brother to give him a hug. 

The moment Ian’s arms where wrapped around him, Barley automatically does the same, looking like he never wants to let go.

And that’s when he couldn’t take it anymore...

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Barley cries out, letting all the emotions that he feels take over him. “I should have known better... I should have NEVER let you in that forest! I-it’s all my fault...” sobs of guilt soon follows.

“Shhh, it’s okey. We’re safe now.” Ian tries reassuring his older brother.

But Barley apparently only heard the first part. He pulls away from the hug, wanting to look his brother straight in the eyes for what he’s about to say.

“No Ian, it isn’t okey! Getting your skull crushed by another elf isn’t okey!”

Wilden couldn’t believe what he’s hearing, as he looks at his two sons.

“I think we should sit down for a moment.” He says, already sitting down on the soft cloud. Barley and Ian soon follow their dad’s example, the older one holding the younger one while they did, as if the younger would disappear within seconds. “Now, tell me what happend.”

It took Barley a few seconds to collect himself before telling their dad everything.

“Ian’s staff had been shaking like crazy for weeks on end, so we decided to go on a bit of a quest again to find out what it is.” Barley starts, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We ended up in front of the Forest of Certain Slaughter... Despite that no one who came in survived, we went in anyways...” 

Wilden was about to tell them how stupid of an idea that was, but caught himself just in time, letting Barley finish the story. 

“We met a grey elf, who told us he had a map of the forest, and we followed him... w-we thought we could defend ourselves if he tried anything...” Barley has to take another deep breath, trying to keep it together, before continuing. “There where 4 more of them... and then it went downhill...” the older brother took one last deep breath that he managed to take. “One of them gouged Ian’s eyes out before crushing his skull...”

Despite the sudden ‘click’ in Ian’s head that it all made sense, he could only think of one fact. ‘Barley had to witness that... otherwise he couldn’t tell us...’

Meanwhile, Wilden cringes out of horror of what he just heard. Words can’t even describe how horrific such a death must be.

God, did they both wanna vomit...

“A-and you?” Wilden manages to ask Barley without gagging.

“T-they cut my belly open before...ripping out my organs...”

Images of what those elf’s had done to his boys flashed in Wilden’s mind. ‘They didn’t deserve such a brutal death...’ he thought, looking at his sons. ‘They had their whole lives ahead of them...’

That does it for him to pull both of them in a comforting hug, holding them tightly. He hears Barley sniff again, while he feels Ian’s tears landing on his shoulder.

“Shhh, you two are safe here. No one can hurt you anymore.” Wilden tries comforting his sons, holding them tightly in his arms. “You’re safe here...”

And he’s right, Ian and Barley are at peace now, but both had to suffer a horrible death for it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If only Colt discovers the boys’ corpses O.O
> 
> *sips chocolate milk*


	3. The discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The horrendous truth waits for Colt and Laurel...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boi oh boi oh boi...
> 
> Prey for Colt over here, ‘cause he’s gonna need a shit lot of therapy...
> 
> Enjoy!

Laurel sits at the dinner table, as the dinner she just cooked for her, Colt, and her sons, slowly cools.

Worry grews in her by each second that passed. Ian and Barley had promised her that they would be back when dinner is ready, but they still weren’t home. Her worry and fear grew even more when Colt arrived home earlier then them.

“The boys still aren’t back?” Colt asks as he sits down across from his girlfriend.

“No... I tried calling them, I texted them, I spoke voicemails several times, but absolutely no answer...” The tone in Laurel’s voice sounds defeated, like she has no idea what to do anymore.

“Did they tell you where they went?” Colt asks further.

“Not specifically. They only told me that we where going to solve what caused Ian’s staff to shake like crazy.”

It was then that Colt also began to think of what to do next. Looking for them now would be pointless, since most officers, including himself, are off shift now. Not to mention that Ian and Barley can still arrive around this time.

“Let’s just eat now, then we will keep trying to contact them.” Colt explains. “They can still come home around this time, and if they aren’t home by tomorrow, then Gore, Specter, and I will look for them, okey?” It made Laurel a bit more reassured that everything will be okey after all.

“Okey...”

•+•

After dinner was done, Colt and Laurel tried contacting the boys again. They send texts asking where they are and if they are okey, they tried calling them, they left voicemails, but they got no response...

Regardless, the couple keep up hope of Ian and Barley still coming home. Maybe Ian lost his phone, or that thing broke again, and he can’t respond to their calls and texts.

And that hope even lasted in the middle of the night.

Laurel sits on the couch, holding her low-on-battery phone in her hands, as she looks at the window where she can see the empty driveway.

Her eyes look like they’re about to close on their own out of tiredness, but she still has enough strength to keep them open.

“Laurel.” She hears Colt call to her, not looking away from the window. “It’s the middle of the night, you need some sleep.” Even the concern in the centaur’s voice doesn’t make Laurel look away in the slightest.

“They can still come...” Laurel answers tiredly, proving Colt’s point of her physical need to sleep.

Colt went silent. He knows how much Ian and Barley mean to his girlfriend, the exact same can be said for him, but he can clearly see that sleep is taking over her.

“I can wake you up when the boys are here.”

“No, thanks...” Laurel answers in a tired, yet quiet tone, still not looking at anything else but the empty driveway.

Colt then sits on the couch next to her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. God, he can even feel that she’s going to fall asleep at any minute now.

And he wasn’t even wrong. Laurel slowly drifts to sleep within a few minutes.

Not wanting to leave her alone downstairs, Colt decides to stay with her. He quietly went upstairs to grab their bed sheets to keep themselfs warm, and gently wraps the soft, thick blanket around them. He carefully took Laurel into his arms, holding her close to him, looking at the driveway where Guinevere is usually parked.

‘Come on, boys.‘ Colt pleads in his head, hoping that his stepsons will show up home safe and unharmed. ‘Please, come home.’

•+•

The sun rises, as the next day arrives, and the Lightfoot brothers still haven’t shown up home.

Colt is the first to wake up to see the driveway, where Barley’s van is usually parked, still empty.

“That does it...” he says under his breath, not wanting to wake up a still sleeping Laurel.

Wanting to call up Specter and Gore to inform them of this, Colt makes an attempt to wake up Laurel, thinking that she has to know first before calling his colleagues up.

“Laurel.” The centaur called out softly, yet loud enough for her to hear.

She slowly opens her eyes, fighting off the sleep in them. Once her eyes got used to the lighting of the room, she analyzed the scene and place she just woke up in, memories of yesterday and last night flew into her mind as she did.

And then only one question fills her mind.

“Are they back?” Laurel asks her boyfriend, her voice still having a tired tone.

A few seconds of silence follows. Colt know who Laurel ment by ‘they’, and it broke his heart to have to tell her that they still aren’t home, but she deserves to know.

“No, they still aren’t back...” Colt says with a tone of sadness in his voice. “I was just about to call up Gore and Specter to search for them, but I thought you needed to know first.”

Dread and fear for her boys’ life and safety instantly fell back into the female elf’s gut as she hears the words of her boyfriend.

“Please...find them...” Laurel begs, burying her face in Colt’s frame as tears streaming down her face. “Please...”

Her pleads made Colt feel his heart break all over again. He wraps his arms tightly around the elf, pulling her into a comforting hug. He needs to calm her down first.

It only took around a minute for Laurel to calm down, as her tears became less and less. Once Colt thought that she can handle herself again, it is time to call his colleagues up.

“I’m going to call Specter, okey?”

Laurel responds with a nod, before Colt got up from the couch, and grabs his phone to dial Specter’s number. He knows that her and Gore are already at work, so asking their help won’t be a problem.

He hears a few ringing sounds of the phone trying to connect, hearing the cyclops’ voice afterwards.

“Hey Colt, what’s up?”

“Do we have new reports?” The centaur asks, hoping that no new incidents get in the way.

“Not at the moment, but we will probably get one or two.” Specter answers. “Why? Did something happen?”

The questions made Colt tense up a little, as he looks at Laurel for a moment, before turning his attention back to the conversation with his colleague.

“Ian and Barley didn’t come home last night from whatever they did.” Colt explains. “They had promised Laurel that they would be back home before dinner, but they didn’t show up at all.”

“Have you tried-“

“Yes, we’ve tried texting and calling them, but no response.”

Silence fell at the other end of the line for half a minute before Specter spoke again.

“Okey, Gore and I will report this to the chief of police, explaining what the case is and what happend. I’ll let you know when we are going to search for them.” The female cyclops explains. “You can already start if you want to, I don’t think the police department would mind.”

“Okey...” Colt let out of relief. “Thanks Specter, for everything.”

“No problem, Colt.”

And with that, he hang up, feeling anxiousness of wether or not they’re going to find the Lightfoot brothers.

Colt turns back to Laurel, who has a look of dread and curiosity on her face. To which he responds with a sure expression, saying without words; “we’re going to search for them.”.

•+•

5 hours into the search for the Lightfoot brothers, and within all that time, they found nothing. No peace of clothing from one of the two, no van, no clue, nothing...

The three cops, split up, had been looking around town for the first 4 hours, asking people if they had seen the brothers, or a van with a Pegasus on it, but nothing...

So they went on to look outside of New Mushroomton for the next hour, hoping that they would find something there.

Up to this point, they had found nothing...

Colt sits in his parked police car, feeling fear, dread, and hopelessness all at the same time. He, Gore, and Specter had been looking for the boys for 5 hours straight without even taking a lunch break, and they hadn’t even found one clue yet.

It makes the centaur feel so feared for his stepsons’ life or safety, as well as the hope Laurel is probably still holding.

‘Please boys, hold on a little longer, we’re on our way.’ Colt tried telling himself, wanting and hoping that Ian and Barley are still alive.

“Bronco, I’ve found the van from the oldest!” Gore’s voice bursts through his radio. “The boys aren’t in there, just the van.”

The centaur instantly grabs the radio to communicate with his colleague. “Where?”

“It’s parked near a dark forest of some kind.” Gore answers. “I’ll send you and Specter my location.”

Feelings of relieve and hope, as well as nervousness and dread, came crashing down on Colt as he hears what Gore had just said. He almost couldn’t wait for the faun to send the location, and when she did, Colt starts up his car again, and practically races to the send location.

It wasn’t even a long drive, 15 minutes or so, when the centaur arrives at Gore’s said location, Specter already being there.

And the faun was in fact right, because the first thing Colt sees when arriving is Barley’s van being parked in front of a dark, creepy looking forest. He swallows his dread. ‘This can’t be anything...good...’ Colt thought before he steps out of his car.

“Found anything yet?” The centaur asks his two colleagues, who already broke in the van to search for any more clues.

“Nothing in the van.” Specter answers, looking at Gore who still searches Guinevere. “But they most likely went into that forest. I mean, why else would they walk miles of bare and empty fields when they can easily drive there. Besides, why else would they park right in front of there.”

That’s quite a good point of the cyclops. Colt thought about it for a moment, whether or not to enter the forest to search for them. Well, if he certainly knew that his stepsons are in there, then he will walk in without hesitation. But even if he knew, that forest is still huge and massive, that it would almost be impossible to find them.

“Okey, I give up, there’s nothing in here.” The centaur hears Gore say from near the van, seeing that the faun just got out of the vericle.

“Then we will continue searching there.” Colt says, pointing at the forest in front of them. His colleagues nod in agreement. “We will split up, each going in different directions. Specter, you’ll look around the left side of the forest, Gore will look in the middle, and I will look around the right.” The centaur continues. “If you get attacked or threats of danger, don’t be afraid to pull out your gun. If you find anything, may it be a peace of clothing or the boys, let us know and send the location so we can get there.” Colt concludes. “Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, officer Bronco.” Both female officers say at the same time.

Colt nods in response. “Good.” He says. “Get everything you need so we can go in together.”

The cyclops and faun both nod and went on to grab their phones and flashlights, having already their guns and radios on their belt. Once they’re all ready, they wait for the centaur to gesture when they can go into the forest. Colt gestures that they can, and he’s the first on that took a step into the forest.

As the trio separately walk deeper and deeper into the forest, the atmosphere becomes darker and darker, but not that dark to the point where they can’t see anything. They already have drawn their guns, wanting to make sure that they can defend themselfs if something or someone suddenly attacks them.

At some point, Colt smells a stench coming from his right side. The stench isn’t just bad. No, it’s shockingly bad, it’s horrifically bad. Colt cringes at the horrible stench he’s forced to smell, and it doesn’t get any better when he walks further away.

‘That’s it!’ The centaur mentally yells, not being able to stand the smell any longer as he decides to go in the direction of the stench. Secretly, Colt hopes that it is rotten food of some kind from Ian or Barley.

But that hope dies bit by bit as the stench grew stronger and stronger the more Colt walks in the direction. The stench became so bad that it almost smells like a dead body...

He has and had seen dead bodies before, from all kinds of creatures of almost all ages. Some from a few hours ago, some from days or weeks ago, the latter having a similar horrific stench. 

Then Colt’s mind set it on being a slaughtered body, possible being murdered by a Cerberus.

And he isn’t even far from the truth...

He reaches the end where the cause of the smell is, and sees two brutalized and bloodied bodies on the ground who can barely be recognized as elves, their blood being spread everywhere around the area, as well as some smashed out teeth on the ground.

“Oh god...” Colt winces, absolutely disturbed by the sight.

Then the centaur makes the mistake of taking a closer look, and his heart jumps in his throat as the realization hit him.

Those beaten up, bashed, and brutalized bodies, are Ian and Barley...

Those corpses are his stepsons...

As if his body moves on its own, Colt kneels in front of the nearest corps, that being Ian’s. The centaur feels his blood stiffen as he looks at the remains of his youngest stepson’s head. He can at least see that the teen’s eyes where gouged and his teeth where smashed out, what happened to his head, which was bashed open, still is a question for the officer.

The sight is horrific...

Out of uncertainty and hope, Colt puts a hand on Ian’s neck, trying to feel a pulls. He finds none...

Trembling, the centaur looks a bit further, feeling his blood stiffen. The next thing he sees is Barley’s corpse, which doesn’t look any better.

Looking at the older brother’s body, Colt sees multiple stab wounds in his hands and legs, all of them pouring blood out. His eye is stabbed out, looking at Barley’s empty and bloody eye socket, as well as the eyeball laying next to him on the floor. And his stomach, being sliced open, has his intestines hanging out, as well as some other organs laying around on the ground, most likely ripped out.

Colt couldn’t help but gag as the sheer horror of what had happened to his stepsons sets in his mind, tears burning in his eyes. He can’t believe it, he really can’t believe it...

He couldn’t help but let out a sob, then another, and then another, until his sobs turn into crying. 

He’s horrified, he doesn’t know what he did wrong... He feels like it’s his fault that his stepsons had to go out like this.

“Bronco, have you already found anything?” Specter’s voice asks through the radio, pulling the centaur out of his thoughts. “I just contacted Gore, and we both still have found nothing.”

Colt didn’t answer for a minute, first having to get his breathing under controle. He has to pull himself together, he has to answer his colleague. He grabs his radio, and pushes the button so that Specter can hear him.

“I’ve...found them...” the centaur’s voice trembles as he says the words, barely holding back his tears. “I...I’ll send you the location...” Colt says lastly before cutting off the connection to send his location to his colleagues, making sure that both female officers get it.

Now he just has to play the waiting game, a what feels like a forever, agonizing waiting game. Colt kneels besides Ian’s corps again, holding the dead boy’s stone cold hand as he waits, wanting to comfort his stepson in some way.

It felt like days, weeks even, before Specter and Gore where finally there.

“Bronco, we’re he-“ Specter jumped, not being able to finish her sentence as she and Gore also see the horrific result of the scene that had played yesterday.

Gore feels her throat burn with each second she looks at the two brutalized bodies. She gags, as she feels the fluids of food making its way up in her throat, and vomiting them out. Specter went to comfort her, yet not taking her eyes off of the mess of blood and guts.

“Gore, call the police department, as well as a hospital, and send some of them here, now.” The cyclops demands, to which Gore silently and instantly agrees, grabbing her phone to call them.

While the faun did what she’s told, Specter went to Colt’s side to comfort him, seeing that he obviously can’t hold back his tears anymore.

“What kind of creature does this...” the centaur cries out. “Who does this...”

Hearing the centaur’s sobs gives the cyclops chills down her spine. She can only understand his devastation about this bloodbath of a sight, and the fact that his stepsons are murdered this brutally. If it had been her stepdaughter, Specter would definitely react this way as well.

She looks at the two corpses of the Lightfoot brothers, feeling chills all over her, and one thought strikes her mind. ‘We need to get out of here.’ 

•+•

It didn’t take that long for the other officers to arrive as well, and to none of Colt’s surprise, some of them cringed out of disturbance. Others just wanting to get this over with.

They took photos of the scene, as well of the two bodies, before they where taken out of the forest to transfer them to a morgue. Colt and Specter got permission to go along, having no reason to stay at the crime scene.

So now the centaur is sitting on a chair across the room where Ian and Barley’s dead bodies are being kept. He had been in there with Specter and the denier, but his emotions took the best of him after a few minutes of being there, so the denier advised him to sit down and let them handle it.

A lot of thoughts fly through Colt’s mind, but the biggest one is by far the slow realization that Ian and Barley are horrifically murdered in their own blood that’s still there in the forest. Questions make their way in the centaur’s mind. How did it came to this? Was there any way around to avoid this from happening?

How is he going to explain this to Laurel?

That particular question shook Colt to his core, and he couldn’t help but let out a sniff. She will absolutely be heartbroken when she hears the news of what happened to her boys.

At the moment, Specter came out of the room, having a disturbed and a bit of a scared look on her face.

Colt took a deep breath, pulling himself together, before asking. “Heard anything new?”

Specter has a hesitating look on her face, but she answers anyways. 

“The denier said that Ian couldn’t have been killed with a weapon, most likely by bare hand, while Barley obviously got killed with a knife.” The cyclops says. “He did a x-ray of Ian’s skull...and...” the female officer pauses, hesitating of wanting to say the next sentence. “The denier saw multiple huge cracks in his skull...”

It doesn’t take a genius to find out that someone had crushed the 16 year old’s skull. Colt has to swallow a bit of puke, already imagining what such a image looks like. God, he can’t take it anymore...

“Colt...” Specter starts, seeing that the centaur almost breaks down again. She sits besides him, comforting the grieving father. “Please, take the rest of the day off. You need to tell Laurel about this. I’ll give you some of the photos If she doesn’t belief it.” Instant regret of the last sentence hit the cyclops, but Laurel deserves to know what happened to her sons.

Colt only nods, knowing full well what she means. She gives him a envelop where some of the photos are in, and the centaur went off to home, feeling horrible about everything of this situation.

•+•

Through the whole ride home, Colt felt a burden grew bigger and bigger, and it doesn’t get better when he parks on the driveway in front of the house he lives in.

He steps out of his car, and walks to the front door, holding the envelope tightly. He took a deep breath, and turns the handle to open the door, and steps in.

“Colt!” He hears Laurel call out, running towards and hugging him. The centaur hugs back, also happy to see his girlfriend again, but not with some certain news.

Laurel pulls back, having a hopeful expression on her face before quickly turning into a worried one, as she sees her boyfriend’s sad expression.

“Did you find them?” She asks in an instant.

The centaur’s expression turns into a hesitate one, but remained sad. It took a few seconds, but Colt responds with a nod filled with devastation and sadness.

“Can we...sit down for a moment?” Colt asks, his voice trembling. And it was right then that Laurel knew that she isn’t going to like it.

They went to the kitchen table, and they both slowly sat down.

“We...found them...but not alive...” Colt says with difficulty.

As painful as that sounds, Laurel desperately wants to know how her sons went out. She lets out a sniff, holding back her tears. “How...?” She asks.

“We have...photos.” The centaur’s eyes land on the envelope near him on the table. Laurel’s eyes soon land on it as well. “I-I don’t think you wanna see them...they’re graphic.”

“I can take it.” She says, picking up the envelop. She looks at it for a few seconds before opening it.

A corner of one of the photo’s sticks out of the opened envelope. She pulls the photos out, and she jumps, and yells out of horror as she sees them.

Colt’s right, they’re graphic, they’re horrendous. One of them has the remains of Ian’s crushed head on it, including the rest of his body. The other one has Barley with stab wounds, a stabbed out eye, a cut open stomach with his intestines sticking out, as well as some of his other organs on the ground. And both of them are covered in their own blood.

Laurel can’t see them any longer, as her tears blur the horrific sight out. She tosses the photos away, shaken to her core. Her breathing becomes heavier, letting out sharp breaths of trying to proces the sights.

She was wrong, she can’t take it.

Seeing his girlfriend so horrified and upset, Colt took her in her arms and hugs her, trying to comfort her and himself. She clings to him, crying loudly as she realizes that her sons, her children, have been horrendously murdered.

And she will never see them again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so that was the end...
> 
> This has been the most graphic and violent fics I’ve ever written inky intire few months of being on AO3
> 
> And that says something, consider that the original plan for the first chapter of this was suppose to be way WAY more disturbing (In terms of torture, not violence) then what I ended up writting...
> 
> And I’m glad I didn’t went with the original plan :)
> 
> Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to fluff therapy...


End file.
